Press and speech under assault : the early Supreme Court justices and the Sedition Act of 1798 /
Bird, Wendell R.,
Press and speech under assault : the early Supreme Court justices and the Sedition Act of 1798 / Wendell Bird. - 1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The early Supreme Court justices wrestled with how much press and speech is protected by freedoms of press and speech, before and under the First Amendment, and with whether the Sedition Act of 1798 violated those freedoms. This book discusses the 12 Supreme Court justices before John Marshall, their views of liberties of press and speech, and the Sedition Act prosecutions over which some of them presided. The book begins with the views of the pre-Marshall justices about freedoms of press and speech, before the struggle over the Sedition Act. It finds that their understanding was strikingly more expansive than the narrow definition of Sir William Blackstone, which is usually assumed to have dominated the period. Not one justice of the Supreme Court adopted that narrow definition before 1798, and all expressed strong commitments to those freedoms.
9780190461980 (ebook) : No price
United States. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Sedition Act of 1798.
Seditious libel--Law and legislation--History--United States--18th century.
Freedom of expression--History--United States--18th century.
Alien and Sedition laws, 1798.
KF9397.A3281798 / B57 2016
345.730231
Press and speech under assault : the early Supreme Court justices and the Sedition Act of 1798 / Wendell Bird. - 1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The early Supreme Court justices wrestled with how much press and speech is protected by freedoms of press and speech, before and under the First Amendment, and with whether the Sedition Act of 1798 violated those freedoms. This book discusses the 12 Supreme Court justices before John Marshall, their views of liberties of press and speech, and the Sedition Act prosecutions over which some of them presided. The book begins with the views of the pre-Marshall justices about freedoms of press and speech, before the struggle over the Sedition Act. It finds that their understanding was strikingly more expansive than the narrow definition of Sir William Blackstone, which is usually assumed to have dominated the period. Not one justice of the Supreme Court adopted that narrow definition before 1798, and all expressed strong commitments to those freedoms.
9780190461980 (ebook) : No price
United States. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Sedition Act of 1798.
Seditious libel--Law and legislation--History--United States--18th century.
Freedom of expression--History--United States--18th century.
Alien and Sedition laws, 1798.
KF9397.A3281798 / B57 2016
345.730231